Spray head



R. J. SWANSON May 8, 1951 SPRAY HEAD Filed Nov. 14, 1947 Wot/MW PatentedMay 8, 1951 "UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SPRAY HEAD Reinhold J. Swanson,Chicago, Ill.

Application November 14, 1947, Serial No. 786,099

1 Claim. (Cl. 299141) My invention relates to a new fluid spray headvide a spray head of a type which does not require the use of gaskets tomaintain a pressureseal between the head and the hose or pipeconnection.

Additional objects and advantages of my invention include: a spray headwhich is so constructed that it is substantially indestructible underthe abuse commonly given such articles, a spray head which will not besubject to the deleterious chemical action which lessens the useful lifeof normal spray heads, and a spray head which is simple to form andassemble with only a nominal expenditure for tools, labor, andmaterials.

The above and other objects of my invention will be apparent from thefollowing detailed description taken with the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of my spray head affixedto a garden hose;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken at lines 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken at lines 3-3 of the Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is an elevation of the face or front portion of the spray headwith the spray plate removed to better illustrate the interiorconfiguration of the head.

The body of the spray head, generally designated 10, has somewhat theappearance of a funnel with the face or front portion ll being ofrectangular shape and having one of the face dimensions elongated withrespect to the other dimension. The neck or stem l2 of the funnel isformed with an internal opening IS with suitable threads M forattachment to the male coupling of a garden hose Hi.

In the particular embodiment of the invention illustrated in Figs. 1 to4, the front portion of the spray head I!) is formed with a chamber lltherein, and the chamber is divided into intercommunicating compartmentsby stiffening ribs [8. Between the neck opening I3 and the chamber I1 isan annular seat portion l9 having a reduced inlet passage 2|therethrough to allow the fluid to pass from the supply hose to theinterior chamber ll of the spray head body.

A groove 22 is formed in the wall of the spray head adjacent to the facell thereof, and is of a suitable thickness to receive a spray plate,

generally designated 23, which is of a slightly greater dimension thanthat of the chamber H, in order that when the spray plate has beeninserted into the groove, the outer lips 24 of the face portion of thebody will securely retain the spray plate to the body. The spray plate23 has a plurality of small openings 26 therethrough to permit thepassage and diffusion of the fluid;

The body I!) is formed of molded rubber having a durometer hardness ofpreferably from to 70, although other substances having similarproperties of resiliency and imperviousness to water, might besubstituted therefor. The use of such material has several distinctiveadvantages. The transverse seat l9 will act as a gasket, and for thisreason no separate gasket is required to prevent the fluid from leakingabout the male hose coupling. To assist in this gasket action, thethreads M which retain the male coupling are formed so as to be a tightfit with the threads of the hose coupling, and thus serve as additionalsealing means against the passage of water about the coupling. With thesealing which the threads provide, it is possible to dispense with thevalve seat I9 in some practices of the invention.

In view of the resiliency of the body in there is provided a means forstiffening the elongated faces of the body H]. In the embodimentillustrated two stiffening ribs l8 are positioned normal to theelongated face. The outer end 28 of these ribs end at a pointsufficiently beind the inner face 29 of spray plate 23 to provide apassage whereby the fluid may enter all portions of the chamber H. Theopposite parallel bordering portions of the perimeter which defines themouth of the funnel-shaped body are arched so as to providereinforcements co-extensive with the long dimension of the body part.

It will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that the sprayhead [0 is of such a type that it may be readily molded with the use ofsubstantially inexpensive dies. The spray plate 23 may be a strip ofaluminum or other metal having the holes 26 drilled or punched therein.As an alternative, the spray plate 23 may be a molded sheet of plasticmaterial having sulficient rigidity to maintain its shape. In any event,after the spray plate and head. have been formed, they may be readilyassembled by spreading the outer face ll of the body H3 sufiiciently toallow the spray plate 23 to slip into the grooves 22 of the spray head[0. Once this is done and the face portion H allowed to return to itsnormal position, the spray plate will be securely retained in the sprayhead.

The stiffening members l8 act as tension members in preventing waterpressure in the spray head from expanding the side walls of the head andthereby dislodging the spray plate 23 from its seat in the groove 22.

One particular advantage of the spray head of the invention is itsindestructibility, and its bility to stand rough usage without harm.

The description of selected forms of my invention in specific detail forthe purpose of disclosure, and to illustrate the principles involved,will suggest various changes and substitutions that may be made inpractice, and I reserve the right to all such departures from mydescriptions that lie within the scope of my appended claim.

I claim:

A spray head formed of moldable material to provide an elongated hollowbody part tapering toward an annular stem formed with an internal threadto receive a male threaded hose fitting and communicating with saidhollow body part through a reduced inlet the perimetrical portion ofwhich provides a seat for the abutting end of a hose fitting, theperimetrical portion of said body part which defines the mouth beinggrooved around the entire inner face thereof and being arched along theopposite parallel bordering portions to form reinforcements coextensivewith the long dimension of said mouth, said body part having integralinternal reinforcing ribs formed on opposite sides of said reduced inletdisposed transversely to the long dimension of said body part and normalto and terminating short of the plane of said perimetrical groove, and arigid perforate plate seated in said groove, said perforated plate beingheld within said grooved perimetrical portion of the elongated sides ofsaid mouth by said internal reinforcing ribs, and in the groovedperimetrical portion of the ends of said mouth by said arched portions.

REINHOLD J SWANSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 53,175 Oyston Mar. 13, 1866752,803 Ross Feb. 23, 1904 1,555,393 Van Hermann Sept. 29, 19251,633,531 Keller June 21, 1927 1,895,890 Meng Jan. 31, 1933 2,025,767Meng Dec. 31, 1935 2,103,425 Lehman Dec. 28, 1937 2,249,274 Faine July15, 1941 2,314,357 Lehman Mar. 23, 1943 2,325,123 Isenberg July 27, 19432,354,019 Holden July 18, 1944 2,382,066 Klein Aug. 14, 1945 2,488,017Manville et a1 Nov. 15, 1949

